The Nuts and Bolts of Buying Property in Guatemala

Here at El Pirate Realty, I am interested ONLY in waterfront property, not inland property (which has a different set of rules which I will not go into here, as they don't apply to any properties on this list). To repeat my earlier disclaimer, I am NOT, in any way, a Guatemalan real estate lawyer, so what I am about to describe to you here is, once again, an oversimplified interpretation of how I understand the basic process to work. As you are reading these "rules," please keep in mind that the vast majority of folks completely IGNORE the rules, and do whatever the hell they want to do with their property, with little fear of reprisal from any sort of policing agency; El Pirate Realty in NO WAY is advocating you do the same, of course!

As I understand it, ALL waterfront land in Guatemala -- whether in Izabal, Lake Atitlan, or anywhere else -- is, technically, some sort of public land. In particular, the first 10 meters (approx. 30 feet) back from the shore has to be kept open for the public to walk across. (This is no problem for the vast majority of properties on this list, where people use canoes to get around, although it does apply to those properties on the ocean and Lake Izabal.) Behind this first 10 meters, an additional 90 meters is also considered "public," though it isn't nearly so regulated.

When you "buy" waterfront land in Guatemala, you are actually buying a lease from someone else (or, as is frequently the case, you are paying someone who never owned a lease to vacate the property). So, when you read that a piece of land "costs" $10,000, what that means is that you are paying the current leaseholder $10,000 to assign his lease over to you and to move off the land. That is the first part of the process you need to work out.

Once you have worked that part out with the seller, you will (if all goes well) receive a "concession" from the Guatemalan government to develop and occupy your new piece of land for a set number of years. The number of years seems to float somewhere between 15 and 25 years, though 15 years seems to be the most common number for someone who simply wants to build a small vacation bungalow. Each year, you pay the Guatemalan government a nominal fee (around $100 per parcel) to preserve your lease. The two big gambles, of course, are: what is to keep the government from jacking up the annual lease fee; and, more importantly, what happens at the end of my lease when I go to renew it, and am told that the government has decided not to renew the lease? I wish I had an answer for you, but I am a pirate, not a fortune-teller, so this is THE essential gamble you are taking. All I can say is that there are hundreds of Gringos buying waterfront land all over Guatemala, and plunking down thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, to develop land that they do not have title to. You simply need to weigh the risk factor, and decide for yourself.

Those are the rules that apply to ALL waterfront property in Guatemala. In much of Izabal, however -- particularly that stretch of the Rio Dulce between the town of Rio Dulce and Livingston, where the vast majority of these properties lie -- you have a second layer of Guatemalan government bureaucracy to deal with: the National Park Service. We've already gone over how ridiculous this designation is in the "real world," but ridiculous or not, you are still going to have to deal with them. Technically, the National Park Service has to sign off on your concession (your lease) before you are allowed to build there. It's a crap shoot whether they will or not, of course. If they do NOT, you simply need to make a choice of how to proceed: bail and look for another piece; appeal the decision through legitimate channels (good luck!); pay off some bureaucrat or middleman to get your permit; or, as most people seem to do, build your house and deal with the fallout later on the slim chance you ever get busted by the park rangers.

Let me give you a real-life example of what I am dealing with right now in my own life: I have picked out a vacant lot way back in the jungle, on the banks of the Rio Lampara. The seller and I have agreed on the price. The leasing arm of the government has told me they would be happy to transfer the lease to me, but there is a small hitch: the National Park Service has decided my lot is in a "protected area," and therefore I will never be able to get permission to build there. At this point, I am choosing the "pay off somebody to get my concession for me" option. Meanwhile, the seller is deciding whether he is going to wait around for this to happen, or if he's going to take a chainsaw into this "protected area" and level this gorgeous plot of rainforest because anyone buying his place cannot get permission to build a little house in the corner of the property, making his property worthless. And believe me, he could do this in one day with zero fear of being arrested (and even if he was, the fine would be a fraction of what he could sell the wood for). Does my absurd contention about saving the rainforest by buying it and building on it make more sense now?

That is really as deep as I want to get into the details of Guatemalan real estate contracts. Make no mistake about it: the process is a pain in the ass, there's no getting around the fact. It's the nature of the beast. At the same time, there are plenty of Gringos going through it right now (me being one of them), and once it is finished and they are settled into their little piece of Paradise, it will be worth it. I promise.

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